CREATORS IN CLAY Thursday morning I was given an opportunity I have always longed for, the opportunity of learning how the beautiful plaques belonging to that branch of art, the basrelief, are made. I spent a very interesting morning as Mr. Stewart explained to me how first the picture is sketched on the clay, then the parts that are nearest our eyes are raised from the flat surface by piling clay on them, smoothing it over, and pil¬ing more on until the contours of the picture are filled out to the ex¬tent that it has taken on a natural aspect. He then showed me two of the clay plaques which the students had finished and left to dry. Cardboard was fenced around them. "What are they for?" I asked. He explained the students would pour soft plas¬ter of paris over the clay model, and the cardboard fence would prevent it running all over. Plaster when wet is soft and will flow into all the crevices of the model, and when hardened will become the mold of the clay model. After all that work it seems thr student is far from finished. He must let the mold harden and then separate it from the clay. Then he pours some more plaster of paris into the mold and allows that to harden. As he has first greased the mold the second block of plaster is easily separated from the mold. Then on the table lying before the student is the product of all his work and care. Mr. Stewart showed me a shiny white plaque, an Indian head, copied from our nickel coin which had been made by one of his stu¬dents of several years ago. This I realized with a thrill, was the fin¬ished product. On the walls there was another plaque which was of the same mold, but had a bronze finish. "How is it that this one is white and that one is the color of bronze?" I asked. "That plaque has been covered with a bronze paint," he answered. There I stood with the two pla¬ques and as I returned them to Mr. Stewart, the thought came to me that never again would I look at the plaques hanging on the walls of public buildings or private homes without seeing in my mind's eye the skillful fingers creating the beauty that was now hanging before my eyes.—Barbara Clark. THOUGHTS It's a great life, if you know when to weaken. Don't stop, look and listen; act, think and run. Greatness makes a great man greater; love spurs him to the heights. Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead and the third is not a woman. Early to bed and late to rise makes a man stay awake, even in Latin.